Happy Christmas!

Reason For Christmas
(this isn't the Bible passage people normally use when they tell/read the Christmas story. i thought it might be a bit refreshing to use another passage. also, if you want to really pay attention to the story, it might help to type up the whole thing if you aren't a very good typer, too :)

Mathew 1:18-4:17 (Holy Bible NLT)



Now this is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiance`, being a just man, decided to break the engagement quietly, so as not to disgrace her publicly.

As he considered this, he fell asleep, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of David," the angel said, "do not be afraid to go ahead with your marriage to Mary. For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus*(*Jesus means 'The LORD saves'), for he will save his people from their sins." All of this happened to fulfill the Lord's message through his prophet"



"Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and he will be called Immanuel (meaning, God is with us)." {Isa 7:14, 8:8,10}



Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star as it arose, and we have come to worship him."

Herod was deeply disturbed by their question, as was all of Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law. "Where did the prophets say the Messiah would be born?" he asked them.

"In Bethlehem," they said, "for this is what the prophet wrote:



'O Bethlehem of Judah, you are not just a lowly village in Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.'"



Then Herod sent a private message to the wise men, asking them to come see him. At this meeting he learned the exact time when they first saw the star. Then he told them, "Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!"

After this interview the wise men went their way. Once again the star appeared to them, guiding them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were and they fell down before him and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But when it was time to leave, they went home another way, because God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.

After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up and flee to Egypt with the child and his mother," the angel said. "Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to try to kill the child." That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod's death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: "I called my son out of Egypt."

Herod was furious when he learned that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, because the wise men had told him the star first appeared to them about two years earlier. Herod's brutal action fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah:



"A cry of anguish is heard in Ramah--weeping and mourning unrestrained. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted--for they are dead." {Jer 31:15}



When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and told him, "Get up and take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead." So Joseph returned immediately to Israel with Jesus and his mother. But when he learned that the new ruler was Herod's son Archelaus, he was afraid. Then, in another dream, he was warned to go to Galilee. So they went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what was spoken by the prophets concerning the Messiah: "He will be called a Nazarene."

In those days John the Baptist began preaching in the Judean wilderness. His message was, "Turn from your sins and turn to God, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near." Isaiah had spoken of John when he said,



"He is a voice shouting in the wilderness: Prepare a pathway for the Lord's coming! Make a straight road for him!" {Isa 40:3}



John's clothes were woven from camel hair, and he wore a leather belt; his food was locusts and wild honey. People from Jerusalem and from every section of Judea and from all over the the Jordan Valley went out to the wilderness to hear him preach. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized, he denounced them. "You brood of snakes!" he exclaimed. "Who warned you to flee God's coming judgement? Prove by the way that you live that you have really turned from your sins and turned to God. Don't just say, 'We're safe--we're the descendants of Abraham.' That proves nothing. God can change these stones here into children of Abraham. Even now the ax of God's judgement is poised, ready to sever your roots. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.

"I baptize with water those who turn from their sins and turn to God. But someone is soon coming who is far greater than I am--so much greater that I am not even worthy to be his slave. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He is ready to separate the chaff from the grain with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, storing the grain in his barn but burning the chaff with the never-ending fire."



Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. But John didn't want to baptize him. "I am the one who needs to be baptized by you," he said, "so why are you coming to me?"

But Jesus said, "It must be done, because we must do everything that is right." So then John baptized him.

After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he was the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him."



Then Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted there by the Devil. For forty days and forty nights he ate nothing and became very hungry. Then the Devil came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, change these stones into loaves of bread."

But Jesus told him, "No! The Scriptures say,



'People need more than bread for their life; they must feed on every word of God.'{Deut 8:3}"



Then the Devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, "If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,



'He orders his angels to protect you. And they will hold you with their hands to keep you from striking your foot on a stone.'{Ps 91:11-12}"



Jesus responded "The Scriptures also say, 'Do not test the Lord your God.' {Deut 6:16}"

Next the Devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him the nations of the world and all their glory. "I will give it all to you," he said, "if you will only kneel down and worship me."

"Get out of here, Satan," Jesus told him. "For the Scriptures say,



'You must worship the Lord your God; serve only him.' {Deut 6:13}"



Then the Devil went away, and angels came and cared for Jesus.



When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. But instead of going to Nazareth, he went to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy:



"In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali, beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River--in Galilee where so many Gentiles live--the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined" {Isa 9:1-2}



From then on, Jesus began to preach, "Turn from your sins and turn to God, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near."









Merry Christmas everyone,

May God bless you.

With much love,

~Tara

Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas Eve everybody!
I hope that you are all having a great day and are excited for tomorrow. I am. I love the holidays that we get to spend with family. I don't know why we can't always get together anyways (actually, jobs and distance are the factors so I suppose I do know if I'm forced to admit it), but holidays are wonderful excuses to see everyone and get everyone together.
Let's not forget the 'Reason for the Season' as they say.
Tomorrow is the day we have chosen to celebrate Jesus' birthday.
Let's not forget Him in all of this last-minute shopping and baking and everything else. I encourage you to take a moment to stop everything and say a little prayer thanking God for sending His Son.
God bless!
~Tara

I'm back for now :-)

I am back for now.
Internet is back.
YouTube has been watched.
New music has been listened to.
Emails have all been replied to.
Junk emails have all been unmercifully deleted.
My computer is under control again!
Yay!

Today (Sunday) I did not make it to church. The snow was terrible, and the wind was blowing it over the road. Have you experienced that incredible, strange, illusion-like feeling when the white snow is blown horizontally across the black of the road? It's the strangest feeling. I like it. I'm pretty sure that it makes some people sick though. After you watch it for a little while your mind and eyes start to go weird though and you have to refocus. That's why we didn't go to church.

I did go to our Christmas Program though. I was in it. Wahoo. Two practices and I was only able to go to one since the other one was after church today. No one really knew their lines. Well, of course I knew my lines. (Actually, I didn't have any lines to learn). We , the Youth Group, were doing a skit with an anchorwoman interviewing a bunch of different people. I was the camera-girl. Yay! I had to walk backwards for the first scene, and I told them I would trip, well I made it okay to where I was supposed to stand, but I shifted my weight and stepped back one more step and I almost tripped over the manger and Baby Jesus! Ahh! Then I almost started to laugh. I actually did laugh a few times during the performance, there was a lot of corny humor and also since no one knew their lines they were reading their props. It was fun. I think we all enjoyed it.

Right now I am relaxing. Talking to my friend Vinz over IM.
HE GOT A BLOG!
Now Hannah, you HAVE to update yours. :P
I am also eating these 'Loacker' wafers. From ITALY!!! Yay! Thank you Aunt Debbie! And I am drinking the tea she gave me from Italy as well. It is very delicious.

I can't wait for Christmas. I want to see my family again.
Love to everyone!
God bless you
~Tara

NO INTERNET! X(

I am sorry to inform you all that I haven't had Internet access all week. I'm typing this up quickly at school.
I just wanted you all to know.
I cannot get to my emails, so unless you sent something to me before about 5 minutes ago, I will not read that email until I get Internet again. I have no idea what is wrong with my Internet connection, I couldn't find anything wrong, so my mom is going to have to call in the pros. Namely, my awesome Uncle Bob. (Really, his name is Bob.)
I just thought I'd tell you all.
I am also experiencing YouTube withdrawal XD. But it's been a week, so I'm a little over it.
Love you guys!
God bless, have a very Merry, Happy, Awesome, Stellar Christmas!
~Tara

For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic

This is a sweet backwords video. For some odd reason I fell in love with it. Don't ask because I don't know. It's just really cool. Or, I thought it was. For something a little different, here it is.
Oh, did you know Mitchell has OCD? He's said it a few times. I thought that was kind of interesting. Okay, I am going to bed.
God bless!
~TARA

A Video For The Lost

The promised Mitchell Davis video. A Video For The Lost. I love the part with Leon, his grandpa.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
God bless
~TARA

I Made It To The Weekend & My Fifteenth Year!

Technically I'm not 15 yet, but in a few hours I will be.
*YAY*
So, I've already opened my presents.
It was pretty cool, I actually laughed out loud when my mom said to get ready to open my presents. Know why? I'll tell you: The guitar was supposed to be my birthday present! And they forgot or something!
My great parents gave me Comatose comes ALIVE from Skillet, pretty sweet, I've already listened to it and I'm thinking I might watch the DVD tomorrow. Plus, I also received this sweet black pinstriped hat! (Yep, I'll get some pics on here. Not gonna say when, because I really don't have any idea)
My friends were great: They decorated my locker! Thanks guys! :) And, since you all didn't make me an Italian flag to put on my locker, I made two(2!) during Art class. Yes, both of them are staying inside my locker; hopefully to the end of the school year. (I put 2 hearts on the middle of one of them. I made a heart stamp in Art and was trying it out. It's pretty cool, I did green/white/red with it so the hearts are like Italian too)
Oh, of course, I love my presents from you guys too!
If you didn't hear, I named the Polar Bear Hannah L gave me Sasha(because that is a very pretty and pleasant name that I like) she is so soft and adorable!, and I love the little angel Emily and Rachel gave me! It's so great, thank you so much!
Kenzie (can I call you Kenzie?) Thanks for the card! I kinda tend to wear stripes every Monday, as Vicki pointed out to me(I hadn't noticed), but sure, next time we plan a stripes day, you are going to be informed!
I'm planning to take pics of my presents and decorate my room some more and get some pictures of that, but again, I am not going to say anything definite about it.
Whoa, I feel kind of bad about not giving a deadline on the pictures. I just don't know how this weekend is going to go.
Umm, I'm a little uncomfortable, I don't think that's the right word, no, I'm a little wary? That's not right either. I guess I don't exactly know how I feel about this, but I want to let you all know and kind of let me get it on paper. Bear with me, please.
My Grandma has cancer. It's some rare form with a long name that I can never remember and never really wanted to remember. (I'm sorry, I really don't know how to put this.) She had breast cancer when my mom was younger, but they were able to take out the tumor or get rid of it somehow. Something like that. But a new form, this rare one, she has it now. The doctors said that it would never completely go away. But she was doing very very well with chemo and all of that stuff (her hair never did fall out!), and the cancer was practically gone. The doctors couldn't see it any more at least. My Grandma always is a fighter. On Wednesday(I really hope that's right) she had to go into surgery for her cancer again because it had gotten worse. She'd been feeling really bad for a few weeks I think. Anesthetics always are really hard on my Grandma, so after the surgery she was extremely exhausted. I can't even imagine. The doctor removed, ah, I can't remember how many tumors, and then I think over two gallons of..what are they called?..Cysts. Yes, I looked it up. Over two gallons! That explains why she was so uncomfortable, it was all in her abdominal region. The doctor said that if he were to remove more it would've killed her.
The incredible thing about my Grandma, or I should say one of the many incredible things about my Grandma is how she recovers. I heard that today she was already walking when just out of surgery she could hardly move. And she was walking fast! My aunt was telling her to slow down. I think that my Grandma is even coming home, or at least moving from the hospital to my aunt's house, tomorrow. Isn't she amazing? She amazes me. And, if she read this, she might be mad that I said so much and worried, but I had to get it out. Emily, I was talking to you about it today but I really don't think you were listening, but that's okay. Now I said it and I kind of feel better.
Grandma, I love you so much I can hardly believe it. That sounds weird but it's just because I stopped loving a lot of things and people for a few years but I never stopped loving you or Grandpa. That has to say something about you both. I love you so much!
I can't really break off of that onto a lighter note.
I guess I'll just list this stuff then:
*I think I did okay on my Science test
*I got an A on my math test/quiz
*We're going to start making Christmas Cards in Art on Monday :)
*I still really want to leave my school
*I'm feeling pretty lost with my life right now
That's about it. It's 12:16 now. I guess that makes it my birthday. I don't feel much different. A little sadder.
Why? I'm not sure. Maybe I'm tired. I'm feeling pretty pessimistic right now, that has to have something to do with it. I'm worried about my friends. I'm feeling like mostly the world is doomed. And that really frustrates me. I also feel like a machine a little, because I only ever do what I'm told and I have fun but no one thinks I do because I don't really like socializing or doing stuff with lots of people. My mom says I have to join something this Spring. Like some sort of sports thing. I hate competition. I know that I will become so anxious I will throw up! Thinking about it already makes me nauseous because I have to do something but I don't want to subject myself to all that emotional junk. It's like I cannot adequately convey all of these emotions and stuff and everything that's still messed up in me to my mom. She doesn't understand or maybe she just thinks that I'm making up excuses. It's just like how I cannot emotionally handle reading the book Rachel's Tears or She Said Yes. I can't. That's what sent me spiraling into my depression in the first place. Or that's as far back as I've traced it. Just this week Emily was saying how I should read Rachel's Tears, and I told her how I could not read it and she said it was scary, the look in my eyes and on my face. I still can't handle really even thinking about it. I should try to work through that probably, but I don't know how to or where I would even start. Somehow competition wormed it's way into being right in the same category as She Said Yes. I think of them together. I have no idea where the connection is. I can't handle competition, I feel worthless even on the off-chance I win and I hate how people always say 'Good job!' whether you do well or not. Maybe I shouldn't, because they are just being nice, but I don't like it. Like I said, I don't want to subject myself to it. I'll probably never sleep. I can't sleep when I'm worrying or anxious, so I suppose it's a miracle I sleep at all. Actually, it might be, because every night I have to pray to be able to sleep well and get enough sleep to get through tomorrow. The nights I forget to pray that I usually am really tired the next day. Incredibly, if it's early morning or really late at night and I can't sleep and I start to pray for sleep and for the people I'm especially worried about, I usually will fall asleep and have enough energy for the next day even though I physically shouldn't. God's wonderful like that.
Yea, I suppose that that is really adding to my sadness right now too.
I'm sorry I just turned that into a pity-party. I needed to get it out though.
Good night(or morning I guess)
God bless
~TARA


p.s.
I'm gonna add another of my favorite Mitchell Davis videos quick. This one makes me laugh every time. I've already watched it who knows how many times. But I like how it makes me laugh. And Juno was a pretty good movie with a pretty cool soundtrack. :-)

Double Dare

OKAY, this is another Mitchell Davis 'LiveLavaLive' video. It truly captures the heart of homework. In 0:20 and 0:26, that is purely how difficult homework makes me feel. So, I had to share this. I laughed so hard, he got it perfect! I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did. XD
God bless!
~TARA

You're Awesome /

This is the new person on YouTube I just found. Mitchell Davis. He has a few good vids.

This is probably my favorite. You're Awesome. That's all I can say, I have to do my homework and this doesn't take as long as making an actual post. ENJOY :)


Oh, HEY!!!!
My birthday is this SATURDAY!!!!! It's already Wednesday night.

Pretty soon I am going to be 10 and 5 years! That's just, wow, crazy. 15 years on Earth. I'll have to think about this some more later. I'll get back to you. :)
God bless!
~TARA

I'm So Happy! :-)

Heeeeeyyy Everybody!
I am so happy! I'm not sure why. I like it though!
It's snowing! The snow is so beautiful! Just swirling and falling and dancing. I think that if snow could have emotion,(maybe it does) that it's joyful.
I don't really have anything to say.
Ah, I was on YouTube(I finally got myself an account! Yea!) and I came accross this kid. Andrew Cloer I think he's a really good guitarist(but I don't really know). He got me to laugh too in a few of his vids.(especially year 3000 bloopers and a day in the life of Andrew)
That's kinda random I know, but I thought I'd mention him since I spent quite a while yesterday watching some of his videos. Maybe mentioning him here might also getting him a few more hits :) He seems nice.
Oh! And I'm supposed to put my Christmas/Birthday Wish List on here. It'll be in the sidebar.
<<<<<<<<<<
I'll do that next. Thank you ahead of time all of my wonderful relatives. I love you all!
God bless
~Tara

SURPRISE!!

HANNAH!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU CAME!! AHHHHHH!!!!!
OH MY GOSH! IT'S LIKE I'M STILL RECOVERING!

So, my long-lost friend visited me from Missouri!!!!

I had had a great day, was it last Friday? Already a week? It feels like it wasn't that long ago. But at the same time, I don't know, it's like it was forever ago.

Anyways, last Friday, it was a great day. I can't remember exactly why, oh, right, it was Thanksgiving weekend! (Sorry, I wanna get a background going, then the exciting part will come, have patience young grasshopper). Thanksgiving was WONDERFUL! My entire family, that's right, my dad came too!, went to my aunt and uncle's awesome house. They live north of us a little bit, closer to the cities, and their house is GIGANTIC!! It's beautiful too. I love it, wood floors and lots, I mean LOTS, of windows. Nice furniture too. But the best part wasn't the house, or the food (Fabulous food though! Love the mashed potatoes!), it was my family. Almost everyone was there! All my relatives from Duluth came, including my baby cousin Brijette! (Okay, technically, she's my 1st cousin once removed, but I like to call her my baby cousin)

Bri can now walk, she's growing up so fast, and she can say a few words, growing up fast like lightning. She can say hi!, hot, baby, papa, ma, and almost ball. I think she knows a few others too. Probably a lot more by now, actually. She would've just turned one yesterday, I believe, the fourth. Happy Birthday Brijette!

So, I had a lot of fun seeing my family and watching them play their annual football game, I don't know who won, but Anna, you did great! I saw one of the times you slid, it looked painful!

I stayed overnight then, at my cousins. They are twins, brother and sister, and no, as I have ridiculously had to tell many people after giving the fact that they are twin brother and sister, they are NOT identical! They're both 17, and can we say sibling rivalry? Not to be mean you guys, but you do fight almost constantly. I still had fun though! We saw Twilight, it was pretty good. We all thought it would be really terrible, but it wasn't. I liked the baseball scene, and the scene where the Cullens' enter the Cafeteria the most. After we saw the movie we thought we should go buy the book! So we went to a Target, the lights were ON! but they were not open. At least 2 other cars pulled into the parking lot as we were leaving though. They really looked like they were open. It was also quite the adventure getting home, *ahemNick!* but no, we did get home in one piece and no one attacked us at the creepy gas station. So, anyways, we listened to part of the book on YouTube and then we went to bed because it was really late. Ooh, I also introduced my cousin's to Fred on YouTube, Ashley liked him, but Nick, oh my goodness, you thought he was annoying! lol, i get that, it was just kind of funny since you don't mind the Charlie the horse going to Candy Mountain or whatever ones. *It's A Leopluridon, Charlie!* Wow, we almost died laughing.

ANYWAYS, I came home, was only there for maybe half an hour, when my best friend Emily shows up! I was surprised and happy! Yay! It's Emmy, and she's gonna sleep over! I wasn't suspicious at all! I shoulda been! So, we talked about girl stuff for a while and ate some pizza when someone else pulls into the driveway! Who is it? Since my dad is an auto mechanic and works at home I just figured it was some dude dropping off a car that needed work. I was SO WRONG!

Hannah! You came! And Emily knew and didn't tell me!

I actually SCREAMED I was so excited!

I loved that, I can't express it Hannah and Em, I just loved being with both of you again! And, you are so right, next time you come, we should go for walks at night again. That was so cool, we saw a shooting star! It had a really long, greenish tale and it was actually moving pretty slow. That was awesome!

It was just like old times, except maybe it was even better! And we saw Twilight together too, now Em wants to read the books!

I miss you again Hannah!

Here are the pictures! They can't capture the joy and fun we had though. And we were pretty much posing in all of them. Em, you got some random pics though, right?

So, enjoy, Hannah, you better read this and laugh at the awesome pictures!

God bless you all! I hope you had great Thanksgivings!

~TARA

We're like this!Hannah, your hightops really are awesome! So cool!That's right! I put the Superman pic online! What now?! lol, that was too great!

Don't get it? Who does? (But, if you have the DVD for A Series of Unfortunate Events, now I can't remember if it's in the actual movie, but I know that it's in deleted/extended scenes. Jim Carrey does a 'Time Machine' thing, back to when Dinosaurs RULED the Earth! Well, yea, something like that. Go ahead and laugh, we were ;) And no, Emily was Not hurt in the making of this film, or of the other one either!

SORRY!

Hey you guys!
First off, I am so, so sooooo sorry that I haven't updated in over a week!
I felt really bad about it, but, in my defense, I had a pretty busy week.
I had a Spanish test on Tuesday and on Thursday! Don't worry, I studied hard,(Spelling counted, ahh!) and I know I passed the test on Thursday with 100%, that made me feel pretty good. I had a History test on Thursday as well, all about Angel and Ellis Island. I'm not sure how I did, I know I got some wrong and I guessed on a few :( I'm thinking I'm going to get a 'B'. I had a Science test today, too! That was brutal. We had to memorize Newton's 3 Laws earlier this year, and for this test we needed to have Pascal's, Archimedes's, and Bernoulli's Principles memorized. Yuck! But, I crammed the night before, (I don't recommend it), and also in study hall and the hour before science(luckily I have science last hour), and then in class right before we took the test. Also my friend was quizzing me throughout the day, thanks Em! :D
My excuse for Monday night is this: English poster. I was up 'til past midnight working on it. He said 'No homework over Thanksgiving weekend', I came to school Monday, and apparently poster's were due Monday! Over half the class had no idea, so he said he wasn't grading them until Wednesday. I get really stressed and anxious if I don't get stuff done, so I had to do the whole entire poster Monday night because I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep if it wasn't done. It actually turned out pretty nice, and I got to take a short break to watch Leno's Headlines, I like that piece, he's pretty funny.
The other nights I was working on Christmas cards. Handmade, from the heart. Yea, I'm only making 13 as of now, but I should make some for my family and my mentor too. Otherwise they're all for friends.
I'm kinda in a bind, and I feel really bad about it. I don't know what to get/make my friends for Christmas. I already decided that I'm probably only going to give a few people actual gifts and the rest of my friends will just get cards. I feel kinda bad that I can't get them all something. But I do want to give everyone a candy cane, maybe that will make up for it. My friends that I do want to give presents to, well, I can't really think of anything. Well, except for one of my friends. Two actually, now that I think about it. But that leaves a lot out. I'm going to have to think about this some more. I am putting a lot of effort (and love! :) into the cards though. I like them.
My blog isn't the only thing I've neglected this week. I'm not used to spending my evenings making Christmas cards, and I'm not used to not having a lot of time to do whatever I want, so I didn't practice my guitar this week, (I know, that's really bad), I didn't go on YouTube, I didn't check my email very often, and when I did I only opened like one before I logged back off, I didn't get to spend hardly any time with my dog or cats or my rats. I did get my rats a new toy, they seem to like it.
Well, that's pretty my apology to you all and my excuses, I'll tell you more about my week/last weekend in my next entry!
(Before my mom makes me go off the computer and go to bed, I am so tired!)
God bless!
~Tara :D

owl ^;-;^

I woke up this morning, watched some TV.

Same-ol' same-ol'.

My mom said, 'Whoa, look at that huge bird!'

So, I looked.

Yes, it was a huge bird, perched on one of the trees at the edge of our windbreak. I didn't even really think about what I was doing. I just grabbed my camera, a hat, my coat, and one mitten. Only one, that was kind of strange.

And, here are the best of the seven pictures I got. I had to share them with you, because owls really are incredible and beautiful animals. When the owl turned and looked at me, right before I took it's picture, I thanked God for it. It was so beautiful.

This last one is my failed attempt to get a photograph of it flying. I knew it was going to, so I had my camera ready, and then it opened it's gigantic wings and took off and I was stunned, it was so incredible, and I tried to get the picture, but clearly it was too fast and too stunning for me. The picture would have come out blurry if I had gotten it anyways. I wish you all could have seen what I just did.

Have a great rest of the weekend.

God bless everyone

~Tara

Oh, this is the little video I got. Really bad quality, if shaken camera's make you sick, you might not want to watch it. I do get a kind of cool little clip of the owl as it takes off from a different tree branch. I thought that I'd try to film it instead of take a picture of it this time, since last time it was too fast and also, I admit, took my breath away. So, if you want to stop watching right after the owl flies, you aren't missing anything. I would've cut out the rest of the video (I was trying to find the owl again, which I didn't) except I don't know how to do that.

Enjoy! ^;-;^ <<<>

Me And My Guitar

Hey,

This is an old picture of my guitar and me. Obviously, since my hair is still natural in this pic. I was bored, thought I'd upload it to y'all.

Love!

God bless!

~Tara

Ummm, At Least I'm Trying?

Well, I pretty much suck at guitar, I only had like three lessons before school started and now I'm not getting lessons anymore. I'm pretty sure I've said that before on here, but I said it again so you know for sure.
So, there are like hundreds, probably thousands, of websites that have guitar tabs on them. No offense to my ex-guitar teacher TJ, but Tabs do seem to be easier to learn, but I am still practicing learning the notes too, and the chords which are very important but hard for me to memorize and get all of my little fingers spread out and pressing the strings hard enough.
So, yes, I continued my search for some guitar tabs, maybe, probably, not the easiest tabs out there for a beginner, but they're songs I know so that should help.
The one's I found that I wanna try to learn are as follows:
Curl Up and Die ~ by Relient K
Let That Be Enough ~ Switchfoot
Awakening ~ Switchfoot I think that it'll sound weird w/ just the acoustic.
Devastation and Reform ~ Relient K Again, probably sound weird just with acoustic.
Then I saw Hey There Delilah by Plain White Ts and decided I'll print that one out too. I mean, it's Hey There Delilah! A kid at my school sang it at a choir concert, and he did really good. The song's sweet, okay?
So, that's all I have to say for today.
Love you guys!
God bless!
~TARA

I Took Pics of Myself and My New Look!

I did a sort of 'self-photo-shoot' type thing.

This is pretty much the pics I liked the best from those.

How do you like my new look? I think it's pretty wicked sweet. XD

I was trying to take a picture of myself in the mirror, this happened instead, I do think that it looks kind of cool. And a little bit scary.

I like this one a lot, my mom gave me that silver necklace. Yea, I like this picture.

The sun was setting through the window behind me, the lighting was pretty good.

I LOVE that one.Calming breaths.What the heck!? Isn't that a WEIRD picture!!! makes me laugh.I like how in this one you can partially see my other eye, it has a nice effect.

I don't know how true emo kids can stand the hair always in their eye. It is such a cool-awesome look though, I can live with it. I'll get used to it. Your vision really isn't that obscured.

I think that this is my favorite pic of all of the ones I took. You can very clearly see the red tips. And my eye looks really blue and idk, the whole picture is nice. I think.

I smile way too much to be emo! But, who says emos really can't smile? I've never met an emo, but I'm sure they smile when they're with their friends. Or when they read stupid stuff on the internet about themselves that isn't true. Or, of course, when they look at the weird pictures of me, who doesn't laugh/smile?Ok, flash nearly blinded me! This is such a creepy picture!

I was trying to take a picture of myself in the mirror..again..still didn't work.

Rachel came to my aid and took the last two pictures of me. (Thanks Rach, Happy Anniversary!!)

This is the last one Rachel took. I LOVE it! She had me lean next to the mirror, and 'ta-da!' I have a twin! Which one is really me? Ah, it was so cool!

Thanks again Rachel!

God bless!

~Tara

(Sorry I didn't get any pictures of the snow, it's all melted by now)

Supernatural Fans: UNITE

SUPERNATURAL FANS:
SUPERNATURAL HAS BEEN NOMINATED IN THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS FOR FAVORITE SCI FI/FANTASY SHOW.
GO HERE TO VOTE FOR THEM! TYPE IN THE SECURITY CODE THINGY, AND THEN SCROLL DOWN AND SELECT 'FAVORITE SCI FI/FANTASY SHOW' UNDER 'TV'. IT'S THAT SIMPLE! ;D
I'M ACTUALLY HOPING THAT THEY WIN, OBVIOUSLY, BUT I THINK THAT IT'LL BE CLOSE. THERE HAVE BEEN OVER 3.5 MILLION VIEWERS ON AVERAGE SO FAR THIS SEASON, ALL OF YOU NEED TO GO OUT AND VOTE FOR THEM!
THAT'S ALL MY NEWS.
GOD BLESS Y'ALL

COMICS

Hey Everyone!
So, I was cleaning my room and I saw I had some comics from the Sunday newspaper. Well, I couldn't just throw them all away! Some of those comics make me laugh! And I like having something to look at or think of to lighten my mood. Basically, this is what I did.

Yep, that's what I did: Dedicated a corner of my room to some hilarious comics, a few of which still make me laugh out loud. Maybe I don't laugh hysterically, but I still laugh. These are a few of my favorite comics:

^^ This is Ollie and Quentin. Usually good for a laugh.^^For Better or For Worse--Really cute strip that usually coaxes a smile from me. :)
^^Dilbert--I used to think it was so Dullbert(haha, laugh, you know you want to), and I hated this strip, but now I've come to really enjoy it. The past few weeks it's been really funny.^^F Minus--Clever is all I have to say. Almost always laugh out loud worthy.
^^Cul De Sac -- I recently discovered this strip, and it is so wonderful! It really reminds me of childhood, and is slightly reminiscent, for me at least, of Calvin and Hobbes-My all-time favorite comic strip. I bought a few Calvin and Hobbes Book Collections, I like them so much!
^^Get Fuzzy--!!!!Used to not find this strip too funny. But now, whoa, usually it's hilarious and I laugh out loud. XD
^^Zits--Probably my favorite strip in the Sunday Comics. They are so true, and I love the humor. Not so much a LOL strip, but it makes me smile and remember all sorts of things that have happened to me or people I know that the strip reminded me of. XD!

Alright, that's it, hope you enjoyed!

Share what your fave comics are, I'm open to new comics. :D, that sounds funny.

Love you guys!

God bless!

:) :) !SNOW! (: (:

Hey everyone!
I woke up this morning feeling absolutely wonderful! I looked out my window, and what did God add to making me feel better and helping me sleeping well? He added SNOW!
It was so beautiful, there is no way to describe it completely.
Nice, rich, big, fluffy snowflakes. Falling leisurely practically all day, they delighted me every chance I got to look outside.
I absolutely loved the snow, and I was so thankful to God for it. Snow is a lot like rain: It washes everything away and gives a symbolic new start. I loved and enjoyed the snow today.

Ok, so I was gone from school for 3 days. You know how much homework I have? I'd guess /at least/ 2 hours of math alone. Ohmy! It doesn't seem like too much, especially compared with my cousins' school-loads, but I still am not looking forward to it. Basically I just wanted to get that out of my system, I was so frazzled all school-day today. There is just sooo much to make up. I admit, I worry about stuff a lot more than most people do, but I don't know how to stop worrying. Sometimes I stress about stuff and I lack even the most remote sense of why I am stressing about it so bad. Like my first guitar lesson. I don't know why I was so stressed and worried, and I asked myself that to calm me down, then I found I didn't know the answer, which should have dissolved my stress, but it didn't. I just kept stressing until I thought I'd be sick and my legs were shaking. The lesson went fine, it was fun. All during the lesson I, mentally, was pretty relaxed, trying to take all of this new info in, but my body was so out of whack! I could not, I mean could NOT, stop my legs from shaking, and my hands were sweating and I was totally tensed. It was like impossible to relax. I even tried a deep breath, and that didn't help me relax. Maybe there's some sort of disease or something that makes you unable to relax. I hope none of you guys have to worry and stress so much! It's not fun.
I am going to go, get some much-needed sleep.
Talk to all of you again, and I am hoping to get some pictures of the snow before it melts, but I need to recharge my camera first. It died right in the middle of me taking some pics of my cats. I was kind of upset, but yea, whatever. I'll charge it tonight, take some pictures, hopefully, tomorrow. But, the snow's already melting some, so it could be all gone. I hope not.
Love you guys!
God bless

1408

I stayed home again today. My mom came home early from work, also sick. Together we watched 1408. She hadn't seen it yet. I saw it once not too long ago with my dad because he made me watch it.
All in all, 1408 keeps you guessing. Or, it kept me guessing. I'm not a huge horror fan so I don't have many movies to compare it to. It's based on a novel by Stephen King. It has a lot of chills and 'gotcha!' moments. But mostly it's phsycotic. While you are watching him in the room, after stuff starts getting weird, you are in the same boat as he is. Wondering, what in the world is going on here?! Trying to figure it out. And then later on, especially when he is talking to the fridge/the hotel manager, you start to wonder if any of this stuff is really happening. Is he insane? Is he really out of the room? Is he really in the room? Is he safe? What is he going to do now? What can he do now?
The movie was pretty good, I liked it quite a lot.
One of my favorite parts, as small a role it plays, is when the room is on fire and the numbers on the door, the 1408, melts or, if you will, bleeds. I love that bit of imagery, it's very dramatic. My really favorite part, like a favorite scene, I'm not sure. I liked the 'You are here' with the arrow on the map as well.
Scenes, think scenes.
Okay, well I liked the book signing and when he was trying to tell the guy in the building across from the hotel to call 9-1-1. Waving his arms and yelling to get his attention, and then the mans peculiar response. That was expected, but still gave me the chills.
But I hated the ending. Does it keep going on in a continuous loop, or is he finally free? What about him and his wife, do they get back together? And Katy? Was it all really real? Did it happen? I know he has the tape recorder as proof, but still. Is it really the end? I'm not sure, but yes, I'd recommend it to practically everyone. Definitely not for people who don't like horror. But I hope that 1408 will become a classic movie, I think it deserves the honor.
If you've seen it, please share your thoughts. It was interesting, and I'd love to share thoughts about it; know what you think. Well, I think that I'll go now. I haven't been able to fall back asleep since earlier this morning. I drank some Green Tea for my throat, but I didn't know that Green Tea has CAFFEINE in it. Haha, needless to say, I did not sleep at all today. I'm tired and sore.

Oh, right:

BARACK OBAMA :::::::::: THE FUTURE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Congratulations are in order. I am worried about our future though, no matter who took the Presidency, this is going to be very tough for Obama. I hope that he can do it, and that our country was right to elect him.

God bless!

NO MORE POLITICAL ADS!

NO MORE POLITICAL ADS--FINALLY!
WHO WILL BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT? HOPEFULLY IT'S ONE OF THE CANDIDATES.
LET'S ALL TAKE A MOMENT TO SIGH IN RELIEF THAT EVERYONE SURVIVED THE CAMPAIGNING AND NOW ALL THOSE TERRIBLE POLITICAL ADS WILL STOP AND THE PHONE CALLS AND DOOR TO DOOR PEOPLE TELLING US WHO TO VOTE FOR WILL ALSO STOP :)
WELL, GO OUT AND VOTE AND HAVE A HAPPY ELECTION DAY! HOPEFULLY OUR COUNTRY WILL GO IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. OR ELSE WE'RE DOOMED. EITHER WAY, THE CAMPAIGNING IS OVER AND ONE, WELL TWO I GUESS, WILL WIN THE PRIZE.
HASTA LUEGO!
GOD BLESS!

Lambs, Dreams, and Alpacas

Oh, there was one more thing I thought I should share with you. Okay, I just found it interesting.
I might get a lamb! Wouldn't that be sweet?!
(ooh, Barlowgirl is playing on the Refuge right now, I like them)
I would get it for free, yes, FREE!!!(I like free stuff!) from one of my friends! They want to get rid of one or something, idk, but they offered it to me! My mom thinks that it'd be pretty cool to have a lamb, but we haven't told/asked my dad yet. I've said nothing about it to him because I know that if I ask he'd say no. He always says no to me! But he should say yes because 1) The lamb can be free-range 2) It won't need a special building to live in, one of the outdoor buildings we already have will work perfectly 3) The lamb's 'excrement' is like rabbit droppings, so that shouldn't be a problem either. (we had ducks for a while and dad made us get rid of them, (even lovely little Creme!) because there was duck poo everywhere).
I would love a lamb! Actually, my bro and I wanted an Alpaca for a while because Alpaca's are way better than llamas. Somehow we got it in our heads that we would start an Alpaca farm and become rich or something. I don't really remember how we ever came to think that, but it was a fun thought to entertain. What does that have to do with a lamb? Nothing I guess. I am so tired.
Well guys, leave me a comment, I could use some human communication.
God bless, have a great week, don't get sick! Oh, and Happy Election Day!

Not At School

I woke up this morning and I thought, hmm, I might throw up. I wanna go back to sleep.
Well, my mom let me stay home today. I slept pretty late, but I woke up a little more than an hour ago and I couldn't fall back asleep so I got up. Just been searching the web, there's nothing on TV and I don't feel like watching a movie.
Nope, I haven't thrown up yet, but I haven't eaten anything today yet either. I don't think I have the Flu, that's what my mom thinks, but I've been feeling sick for a few days so a day off is doing me good. Two of my friends were out last week because of the Flu, so I think it will probably just be a matter of time until I get it. So, hopefully taking a break from school will buff up my immune system enough so I won't get sick.
I'm tired but I can't fall asleep!
Wow am I glad I put the Refuge Radio on my Windows Media Player. Then I didn't have to search the Web for it. Nice to have some background music.
Hey, I think all of you guys should put the Refuge on your Media Players if you want to. I'll go find a link to the main site. http://www.refugeradio.com/ whoa, I guess that's kinda an obvious address, oh well, I'm not thinking so clearly right now.
Hey, Toby Mac is playing now! He's good.
Let's see, what else do we have on the site?
Today's Power Verse (Nov. 4th 2008, Election Day)
It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. Psalm 118:8
That's pretty fitting for Election Day.
Ooh! Now they're playing Skillet! Last Night! Great song! Skillet is becoming a favorite band of mine pretty quickly. I should try and get one of their CDs.
As of right now the Current #1 Hit is Lose Control by House of Heros off of their album "The End Is Not The End". Must admit, I don't know the song.
The Skillet CD I really want is Comatose. Not only because I like their song Comatose, but because it has a great collection of their awesome songs!
Let's see, what else can I find?
All right, here is the link for getting it to play on your Windows Media Player, http://www.refugeradio.com/Webcast/Index.cfm , it's all FREE, which is pretty awesome especially if you are like me and are always looking for free stuff. :D
To end this weird blog entry, I wanna share what I just read on Jake Scott's page on the Refuge (http://www.refugeradio.com/Staff/index.cfm?ID=11)
He was asked: If you were on the cover of a magazine, which one would it be, and what would be the caption? And he answered: Magazine: Billboard, Caption: 'How The Heck Did This Guy Get On The Cover of Billboard?'
It made me laugh a little.
I hope you guys have a great day. :)
God bless!

Fun Fotos!

I took my darling rats outside for a little while today. I remembered I had promised them I would take them out a long time ago, but I forgot. It's getting closer to winter every day, and today was actually relatively warm, so I didn't have to worry about them getting too cold.

I don't take my rats outside very often, mainly because of my cats and dog which have taken snaps at them other times I've brought them outside. I have to be very cautious. Therefore, I went outside through my basement so the dog wouldn't see or hear me. That worked pretty well. This is a picture of my newer rat, Venice.

Venice again. Isn't she adorable?! She really enjoyed being outside, both of them did. They made me smile the whole time we were out on the patio.
This is my dear Firenze. She is the rat I have had the longest. I had her for a few months when I decided she needed some company, she was so terribly lonely. So, we went back to the pet store and I picked out a beautiful all-brown rat who seemed small for her age. I christened her Venezia. Well, as I thought the day after we got her and I was watching her and Firenze interact, she didn't look too well. She died a week or two later. I knew it was going to happen and so did Firenze. It was sweet, Firenze would sometimes sit next to Venezia and groom her. After Venezia died, Firenze seemed even more alone. That is why, another few months later, I got Venice to be her friend. They fought at first, but now they get along and only play-fight occasionally.
Our nice trip outside was rudely interrupted by Star, who came meowing his way over to us. I put Firenze and Venice on my shoulders and then quickly snapped this picture of Star sniffing around where they had just been exploring.

So, after being scared away from the patio, I thought Firenze and Venice (guess where I want to go :-D) might enjoy the flower barrels. That's where I took them, and they did love it!
Venice is so cute!
Firenze is more of the explorer.
Venice looks over the edge of the barrel, she's pretty curious but also usually timid. Firenze helps her be more outgoing, as weird as that sounds.

The sun is so bright on Firenze's head, it makes her fur look purely white! It looks weird if you look at it for a long time.

Moto came over to us, and took a snap at Venice. I snatched her and Firenze up and that was the end of our trip. Star wouldn't follow us, but I know Moto would. She killed a lot of my pets, all my kittens until we got a mean rooster who showed her her place. But the rooster died, and now she is partially reverting to her old ways, though she bonded with my cats so I really doubt she would hurt them. But she would probably love to eat my rat-babes.

After we were on our way to the house, I took a pic of Moto and Star (who I was wrong about, he did follow us!) who were double-checking to make sure the rats really weren't there any more. It was a quick end to our little adventure, but we all still had fun.

God bless you all! Have a wonderful week!